Jorge Alfaro signs MLB deal, Caleb Hamilton DFA'd
- Thread starter soxhop411
- Start date
Man how bad is Hamilton that he's getting replaced by a guy who might be one of the worst defensive catchers in the sport?
Hamilton has 29 PAs at the major league level and he's already put up a -0.5 WAR.
So pretty terrible.
Hamilton showed absolutely nothing. What small chance of Hamilton becoming a useful player isn’t going to happen at the major league level and the Sox have a few weeks to try to play against house odds with their 19% chance to make the playoffs.
The Ursa Major thread was barely off the first page. Anyway, I wonder if this is less about Hamilton's terribleness than an indicator of McGuire's long-term prognosis. Oblique strains tend to linger.
Is it a reflection on Hamilton or bad news on McGuire returning anytime soon?
Hamilton is a defense-first catcher who I don't think anyone expected anything more from than that. Covering every 5th game for a couple weeks is probably the extent of his MLB abilities. That they're bringing back Alfaro suggests to me that McGuire's return isn't imminent and they want someone who can provide a little more offense. I guess with Chang returning and shoring up the defense at SS, they think they can afford lesser D behind the plate?
Yeah, the argument here was that Alfaro wasn’t a legitimate option at catcher, right? I guess it’s all about the alternatives, and Hamilton may be one of the worst hitting catchers in history. They aren’t getting anything offensively out of the position lately, so I think this is worth a shot- heck, they are considering playing JT at second.
It may not mean anything about McGuire, he (Alfaro) is an easy DFA when needed.
It may not mean anything about McGuire, he (Alfaro) is an easy DFA when needed.
Last edited:
D) All of the above, especially the bolded. The offense is still struggling so if they are able to match him up with a pitcher(s) who might be able to limit his defensive shortcomings he might add a bit of punch on days when when other regulars might be off.
I guess this guy knew someone to get 173 at bats in 1987. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/sullima02.shtml Wait? What?
Alfaro has 144 innings as an outfielder in his MLB career. Need a right handed bat after Duvall is sent packing? Here you go.
If we end up with Alfaro in the outfield... we know the season is pretty much cook IMO.
Not necessarily so. I’m not advocating that he should play OF outside of emergency and/or weird situations, but he had a 0 UZR in those 144 innings in 2021. It’s much more defensible than, say, the 38 year old 1B/DH that’s getting reps at 2B.
Turner has close to 1000 MLB innings at 2B in his career (including 8 innings so far this year), so let's not pretend he's going to be a fish out of water. It's about keeping all options ready and available should the need arise.
He's also not previously appeared in more than one game at second since 2015 and has had only one season with more than 14 appearances, which was 13 years ago. One might reasonably assume that there's a good reason for this. Turner has also played some shortstop in his career - why don't they try him out there to see if he can fill that gaping hole in our lineup?
This team's long running obsession with forcing players into positions they're not able to field is frustrating.
Last edited: